An Eastern Dialect, a Return to the Peninsula

شَرقِيّ

root: ش-ر-ق / nisba adjective / definition: eastern

It’s funny. In the summer, I was preparing to spend my winter studying in Jeddah, but ended up cancelling my plans for one reason and the other. And now we’re nearing the end of December, I’m here in Jeddah—on completely different terms.

I’m on a four-city trip in the country and the stays so far—in Riyadh and Makkah—have unsurprisingly drained the social battery of this easily-overwhelmed introvert. I’ve been sat in many a room being fed, watered, and chatted to in an eastern Arabic dialect that my ears are still getting used to.

And why did no one tell me beforehand that the temperature difference between Riyadh and Jeddah or Makkah would be 25 degrees Celsius? Winter layers have been haphazardly flung to one side of my suitcase and I pull out (creased) linen clothes that I promise myself I’ll iron “tomorrow”.

When “tomorrow” comes, of course, I’m busy meeting in-laws or hiking up a mountain or packing my bags yet again.

Yet through the social exhaustion comes connection and growth and maybe a little bit of learning. (Heard of كدّادين and الفوّال?) Oh, and a whole lot of gratitude.

“Don’t you want to buy any souvenirs?”

“Why?”

“To remember your first time here—”

—I don’t think I’ll forget.

But the cogs in my head start turning to work out the amount of free space and weight I have in my suitcase. (Will throwing away my half-used bottle of eyedrops make way for a 1.4kg rug??)

It’s past midnight here and I’m up with a chesty cough and a cup of Turkish tea. I can’t miss a blog post, I told myself before lifting heavy head from pillow.

I didn’t know I valued routine as much as I do. It’s a nice anchor in changing tides, keeping me grounded after sailing to new shores.

I reflect on plans—how they fall apart and come together again in more fitting ways. I sip my tea, utter words of gratitude, and tell myself it’s time to sleep off this headache.

Goodnight for now,

.تصبحون على خير